Apamin, a blocker of the calcium-activated potassium channel, induces neurodegeneration of Purkinje cells exclusively.
Following acute intracerebroventricular injections of 1 ng of apamin and chronic apamin infusion (0.4 ng/microl, 0.5 microl/h, 14 days), the rat brains exhibited bilateral damage only in the cerebellum. The argyrophilic cells were Purkinje cells in copula pyramis, flocculus, paraflocculus, and paramedian lobules. These data demonstrate that the inactivation of small conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels by apamin induces a non-limbic neurodegeneration.
Mourre
C
C
Laboratoire de Neurobiologie des Comportements, CNRS Université de Provence - UMR 6562, Marseille, France. mourre@newsup.univ-mrs.fr
Fournier
C
C
Soumireu-Mourat
B
B
D000818:Animals; D001030:Apamin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008297:Male; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000139:chemically induced*; D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers; D001030:Apamin; D002118:Calcium